But there are some actions the President and his administration could take in a second term that would make us less dependent on imported oil from hostile nations, increase efficiency, increase the economic activity generated by the oil and natural gas industry, and do it all without harming the environment.
Phyllist Cuttino, who directs the Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency, is hoping Congress will respond to high oil prices with tougher regulations on fuel efficiency.
Change is finally doing something about our addiction to oil and raising fuel-efficiency standards for the first time in 30 years.
Of the six sectors needing transformation to increase efficiency and reduce oil use -- cars, trucks, planes, fuels, finance and military -- three or four are near or past their tipping point and starting to get easier.
The three big efficiency stories--oil, gas and electricity--are all remarkable.
And like integrated oil and gas companies, the efficiency developer is responsible for installing and monitoring the efficiency measures, ensuring that the building upgrades produce savings for years to come.
FORBES: Log Baby Log: The Race to The Big New Resource Play You Haven't Heard Of
He has written studies on energy taxes, the oil market, electricity regulation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable development and trade and the environment.
WSJ: The Experts: What's the Best Way Forward on Nuclear Power?
The only way to reverse that trend is to slash oil and coal use by upgrading the efficiency of cars, factories and power plants.
But will high oil prices lead to the goal of greater efficiency and a cleaner environment?
It is thought the Dreamliner's claim to fuel efficiency will be an advantage as oil prices continue to soar.
Still, there are few breakthroughs as promising for increasing fuel efficiency and reducing our dependence on oil as electric vehicles.
Still more newly discovered microbes that live in oil or natural gas wells might increase the efficiency of existing drilling and mining.
The world is less dependent on oil than it was, thanks to improved efficiency in the use of energy and to a shift away from heavy industry.
One option - renationalisation - would reduce Yukos's efficiency, said Zarko Stefanovski, senior oil analyst at Aton brokerage.
Long-dominant incandescent technology started to change in the 1970s when higher oil prices led businesses to think more about energy efficiency.
FORBES: Boom At Hand, TCP's Ellis Yan Faces New "Green" Bulb Battle
B, if we could achieve some of these important policy objectives through executive action as the President did with close to a dozen automobile manufacturers in putting in place fuel efficiency standards that will save 12 billion barrels of oil, we would.
Consuming the ethanol near the source of production would generate efficiency gains on both the exported ethanol and the imported oil.
Fuel efficiency is mainly driven by changing behaviour because of high oil prices, and by new technology that makes vehicles more efficient.
Even as the average car's fuel efficiency has risen 58% since then, U.S. oil consumption has risen 19% to 19.5 million barrels a day.
Given the size of the prize and technical complexity of producing value from efficiency reserves, a new breed of energy development comparable to the oil and gas industry has begun to take shape.
FORBES: Log Baby Log: The Race to The Big New Resource Play You Haven't Heard Of
And absent those fuel efficiency standards, we know that we would be paying for that oil, and we would be paying for a certain portion of that we would be paying foreign providers of that oil.
While Congress is deliberating over ways to cut dependency on foreign oil and limit greenhouse gas emissions, states are taking the lead in promoting energy efficiency.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, said oil companies ought to play a part in rebuilding old infrastructure, which would increase efficiency and possibly reduce costs.
Fully exploiting wherever practical the best available efficiency techniques throughout the U.S. economy could save half our oil and gas use, and three-fourths of our electricity, at about an eighth of their current price.
By 2050, it will have nearly 700 million, or almost three times the number of registered vehicles currently in the U.S. If China's vehicle fleet grows to these anticipated sizes with today's fuel efficiency and emissions standards, China will need roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day to fuel its transportation sector, which in turn will emit about 3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide every year.
Technological improvements like energy efficiency and the demise of the Hummer have also made us less vulnerable to oil price swings.
Natural gas emits 29% less carbon dioxide than oil and 45% less than coal, and it can be used in high-efficiency combined cycle power stations.
The issue of energy efficiency and everything we need to do to shift away from dependence on foreign oil, we're making huge progress. (Applause.) We're actually importing less oil than any time in the last eight years.
Developed countries use half as much oil per real dollar of GDP as in the mid-1970s, thanks to improved energy efficiency.
And tomorrow, after decades in which we have done little to increase auto efficiency, those new standards will be finalized, which will reduce our dependence on oil while helping folks spend a little less at the pump.
应用推荐